Psychology
Going On a Newsletter Sabbatical
Over the last 5 years, few things have brought me more joy than these Thursdays with you. Our debates about what is or isn’t true, the safe container to think in public, the testing of ideas. I love being in the public sphere and you have given me the space to do what I love: (…)
Why You Should Throw Yourself a Pity Party
Have you ever thrown a pity party? Like a REAL one. An ugly-cry, blame the world, curse your parents, rage, scream, resent, and regret till your heart’s delight one?? I highly recommend them. I worry that people who don’t know how to throw a good old-fashioned pity party will remain identified with their pity because (…)
Why “Just Work Harder” Doesn’t Work
Ok quick history lesson because I thought I knew this stuff but I really didn’t learn it till I was an adult. We’re taught that for centuries women were denied access to capital, property, employment, separate economy, government, and our own freaking children. What we’re not really taught was how this was true as recently as the (…)
The Nonsense Gap
It is impossible for me to watch Particle Fever without crying. Particle Fever is my favorite documentary about the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle. You can watch it on Netflix. Peter Higgs is a theoretical physicist who published his theory predicting the existence of the Higgs particle in 1967. It took 45 years before (…)
Signal In The Noise: Introducing The Carbon Almanac
Before I tell you this story you need to know that I was the founder of the Save The Earth Club at I. Weiner Middle school in 1994. I petitioned for half a day of school to facilitate workshops and speakers and, yes, I was 10. I also drove my parents insane insisting we reduce, (…)
How Was Your Day?
Why do we insist on the question: “How was your day?” I know it’s a colloquialism. I know it’s intended as an exchange of pleasantries, where I say: “Fine!” “Well!” “Doin’ alright, how ‘bout yourself?” Then you say, “Good!” and we move on. It’s an exercise in acknowledgment, which I believe in. But, occasionally, someone asks it (…)
What Happened When I Stopped Watching The News
I have a secret. One I prefer stay mine, but I need to tell you the secret in order to make another point. So here we go. My secret is: I don’t watch the news. I don’t read the news, I don’t watch it, I’m off Twitter, I cannot tell you who did what where, (…)
Time To Think
It started as an ordinary discussion of books and life, but ended (naturally) with a fight about Emily Dickinson. Not the Dickinson you remember from high school, the one on Apple TV (featuring Wiz Khalifa as death and John Mulaney as Thoreau. I KNOW RIGHT.). In the show, teenage Emily refuses to participate in household (…)